


Matthews vs. Shark

by backcheck



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, M/M, phelps vs shark, shark week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-07 14:13:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11625240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/backcheck/pseuds/backcheck
Summary: Mitch thinks it’s a joke at first.James is on the phone for like an hour and then he walks into their office that’s really just a giant room with a couple desks and more aquariums. “Auston Matthews wants to race a shark.” He says, “A great white to be specific.”





	Matthews vs. Shark

**Author's Note:**

> i'm sorry i literally have no idea what this is. could be considered crack, probably. AU where auston is an olympic swimmer and mitch is a shark scientist. for a.

Mitch thinks it’s a joke at first. 

James is on the phone for like an hour and then he walks into their office that’s really just a giant room with a couple desks and more aquariums. “Auston Matthews wants to race a shark.” He says, “A great white to be specific.”

“You need to think of better pranks.” Mitch mutters. He doesn’t even bother looking up from the video he’s watching. They managed to tag a baby tiger shark last week and the feed has been amazing. 

“I’m not kidding.” JVR huffs, “Auston Matthews wants to race a shark, and they want you to help him do it.” 

“Okay, say you’re _not_ kidding. How the hell can a human race a shark?” Mitch asks, he presses pause on the video. 

“I dunno.” JVR shrugs, “But Discovery is offering a shit ton of money so you better figure it out.”

-

Mitch doesn’t live under a rock. He knows who Auston Matthews is. It’s hard not to, when he has the most Olympic medals ever and set like a thousand records. 

“I think we should do it.” Connor says. They’re watching one of Auston’s races, the 2012 Olympics where he won gold in the 100m butterfly. “Even though it really doesn’t make sense, I think it’d be cool.”

“ _Cool.”_ Mitch echoes. “We kind of need the funding.” 

“Yeah.” Connor agrees. “And Auston seems nice? We get to go get more great white footage and watch an Olympian trying to swim in freezing water.” 

Mitch nods, “Yeah, I’m in.” 

JVR grins when they tell him, like a full out _you just won free vitamins for a year_ smile. “Awesome, I’ll let you know the details soon.”

-

Auston shows up in a baggy hoodie and a shark hat. It’s really fucking early but he smiles and shakes all their hands. “I know it’s kind of dumb, but I’m pretty excited.”

“Me too.” Mitch says. “I’m betting on the shark though.”

“Hurtful.” Auston says, “I’ve got way more medals than any shark.” It isn’t that funny, but Mitch laughs. Connor looks between them and sighs, “Come on, boat’s ready.”

The plan is to measure a few different species of sharks’ speeds and then compare it against Auston racing 100 meters in the ocean. Connor goes over the plan on the boat, when Mo has them going to one of their favourite spots to see sharks. 

Auston looks excited. Mitch didn’t really expect him to, thought he’d just be around for the money or something, but he asks questions and lights up when Mo pulls the boat to a stop and yells out, “Shark!”

It’s just a reef shark but Auston grins anyways. Mitch remembers the cameras and looks away. They send Dylan and a camera into the water so they can watch the live feed. Jake is on the water bike they built with bait hanging off of it. 

“You can probably beat a reef shark.” Connor says, drily. “With the monofin.” 

It’s a few more hours until a hammerhead shows up, dead set on getting the bait. “Could I beat him?” Auston asks and Mitch isn’t sure if he’s kidding.

“No chance.” Mitch grins, “Your head is way bigger.”

Auston rolls his eyes, “We’ll see.”

-

They film Auston swimming a couple days later. He’s only racing 50 meters for the first race, diving off of the boat and swimming to a buoy. 

“How’d I do?” Auston yells out, still shivering in the water. 

“Great.” Mitch laughs. 18.7 seconds. Pretty impressive, but he isn’t going to say it out loud. 

The reef shark simulation went 18.9 and the hammerhead wins it in 15.1. Mitch has to act like it’s serious business but it’s hard when Auston keeps smirking at him. 

They have some pretty sick footage from a year ago, of a hammerhead hunting reef sharks and Mitch grins when Auston looks just as impressed as he was when they got it. “Pretty cool hey?” 

“Yeah.” Auston says, “It’s insane.”

-

They go to South Africa so Auston can dive with a great white. Mitch’s done it before, had never felt so small in his entire life. He isn’t this time. 

Dylan’s done it the most out of all of them and even though the cage is doing all of the protection they can’t risk Auston dying in a cage. 

“Scared?” Mitch asks. The cameras aren’t rolling for once and he’s eating chips and watching Connor try to guess how long a great white can excelerate for.

“No.” Auston lies. “I’ll be fine right?”

“Right.”

“Dylan’s a good diver.” Mitch says, “And the cage is really strong.”

“Dylan’s the best.” Connor says, still writing out numbers. “Discovery channel isn’t going to let you die, you’ll be fine.”

“Thanks.” Auston mutters. He tugs at the collar of the wetsuit. It’s a good look on him, Mitch isn’t going to lie. Auston’s tall and broad shouldered and hasn’t stopped smiling until now. Mitch is only human. 

He doesn’t seem scared when the cameras come back on, just excited and he hops into the cage after Dylan. The footage is pretty cool. The shark bites against the cage, knocking into it but Auston is beaming when he gets out of the water. 

“That was so fucking cool.” He breathes. 

Mitch helps tug him up onto the boat and nods, “Right?”

“Still think you can win?” Connor asks. He’s smiling this time and Auston laughs, “Yeah man, it’ll be a close race.”

Connor snorts. He throws a towel at Dylan and passes one to Auston. “For sure.”

-

It takes them forever to get a great white to chase their bait. Mitch is exhausted by the time they get some real numbers and Auston keeps yawning. 

“Got some stats?” He asks, hooking his chin over Mitch’s shoulder. 

Mitch is just writing down the numbers. Connor will do the calculations of coasting speed and the bursts, and Mitch will try to figure out how a great white would hypothetically race 100 meters. 

“Yeah.” Mitch nods, “We should be good to go.” 

“Cool.” Auston grins. “Willy’s almost done with the suit right?”

“Think so.” Mitch says. “You know him?”

“He’s done other racing suits.” Auston shrugs, “He seemed pretty excited about this one.” 

Mitch nods and finishes the spreadsheet. “I’m still betting on the shark.” He grins, “No matter how good Willy is at suits.”

“Fine.” Auston grins. “But, If I win you have to take me out on a date.”

Mitch wasn’t expecting that. He falters and Auston’s expression falls. “Deal.” Mitch says, quickly. “And if the shark wins?”

“I’ll pay for dinner.” 

-

The last thing they have to do is measure the speed the shark is at when it’s hunting seals with a vertical strike. It’s going to make it impossible for Auston to beat the shark but it’s incredible to see live. 

Or, Connor says it is. Mitch hasn’t seen it yet so he’s just as excited as Auston is as they wait. 

They put a accelerometer in a seal decoy to measure the impact speed of the shark and keep it behind the boat. 

“Come on you little bugger.” Auston mutters. He fistbumps when it happens and Mitch is so glad he didn’t miss it to stare at Auston. 

The shark maxes out the accelerometer which is crazy and their estimation is more than 26 miles per hour. 

“The next step is to put together all the speed data to guess how fast a shark can swim 100 meters.” Mitch tells the cameras. They already did it but they do another take for that and he tells them that it’d be around 36.10 seconds. 

Auston has no chance.

-

Mitch isn’t there when Auston tries on the new wetsuit, but Connor sends him pictures. He looks pretty funny but they got an engineer to design a fin that’ll mimic how a shark swims and that’s fucking sick. 

On race day Mitch wears a _Team Shark_ shirt and Auston pouts at him. “Come on, I’ve trained so hard.”

“Evolution baby.” Mitch grins. 

“You guys ready to go or do you want a few more minutes to keep flirting?” Mo asks, poking his head out. 

Mitch flips him off.

-

“Two seconds.” Auston says, “That’s pretty impressive.”

“Sure honey.” Mitch teases. It’s technically their fourth date by the time the episode airs and Mitch is pretty happy to be lying against Auston on a couch. 

“I beat a reef shark.” Auston huffs.

“I could beat a reef shark.” Mitch says, “Great whites aren’t even the fastest sharks.” 

“Next year I’ll race a mako.” Auston promises, leaning down and kissing Mitch’s head. It’s kind of cute, Mitch can admit it. 

“So you can lose even worse?” Mitch asks. 

“No faith.” Auston shakes his head, “Maybe I’ll race a dolphin.” 

Mitch rolls his eyes and kisses him.

**Author's Note:**

> lots of people were disappointed with phelps vs. shark but i personally loved it. i think auston said somewhere that he's terrified of sharks but in this world he loves them.


End file.
